Tips in Generating Leads Through The Internet

Many companies know that the internet is one of the most powerful channels to generate leads yet lack the know-how on how to proceed. This is a summarized version of how to generate leads through the internet.

Search Engines

When people search for specific information online, they are looking to find companies or websites providing information about services. These people are already possible customers, searching for the best product or service. They are, in fact, already interested prospects.

And companies who know how to tap into the internet to attract them benefit because they are providing their information when the prospect is searching, rather than disturbing them (e.g. advertisements).

When people search and land on a website, they are likely to spend some time browsing through the contents to continue their search further.

There are specifically 2 types of traffic generation methods through search engines:

Organic Traffic aka Search Engine Optimization

This is where your website is “recommended” by google or yahoo, based on your content because they perceive you as an expert in that field. Both search engines have different techniques of calculating your “authority” levels. By hiring a search engine optimization expert, your website can increase its rank in your targeted keywords in no time at all.

Benefits:

One of the best methods for generating free and massive flow of prospects
Targeted prospects as they find you by the specific keywords that they are looking for. Which is typing words into the search engines to find an answer
Positions you as an expert by being found first

Cons:

Slightly expensive when you hire an expert however in the long run, you will cover the costs many times over
Takes time to build your “expertise” to google

Lead Generation: Good – 9/10

Costs: High – 8/10

Suitable for: All Companies

Paid Traffic

This is utilizing the paid ads listing on google and yahoo search engines. The ads are highlighted in colorful shades and positioned beside the top listings, usually at the right side of a search result. Within 10 minutes (Yahoo ads) or 3 days (Google ads), you can acquire targeted prospects to read your company website.

Benefits:

Immediate flow of prospects
Can attract extensive variety of prospects ( as you can target an extensive range of keywords) on the search engines compared to Organic traffic in a shorter time frame

Cons:

Recurring expenditure however if you generate more profitability than expenses, it is definitely worthwhile to invest. It is the only marketing expense, that when properly done, shrinks as time passes.
Needs expertise and knowledge to manage your accounts otherwise you might be spending more than unnecessarily

Lead Generation: Good – 7/10

Costs: High – 7/10

Suitable for: All Companies

Company Website

This is an online presence where you feature your company services and products to people who find your website. The visual, branding and copywriting is critical for effective online lead generation. Some companies consider their websites not as a leads capturing tool, but rather more of an online brochure for their products.

Once you let go of that thinking, you can start using your website as a more productive marketing weapon. Choose to speak to your prospects and their issues rather than introducing your services and products. And always capture their contact by providing a free report or e-newsletter.

In fact, all traffic should be sent to your website with the intention to capture their data. The percentage of people purchasing a product upon viewing it first is quite low, hence you need to build a relationship through e-newsletters to move a cold lead to the hot lead.

Benefits:

Leverage on time with the website, rather than having to keep repeating your services to different clients
Leverage on time by using it to capture leads of prospects and convert them into sales, reducing your workload and increasing your profits
Can position yourself as the leader in the industry by having a website that sells and convinces.

Cons:

Nil as it is a necessity to have a website online

Lead Generation: Good – 10/10

Costs: High – 6/10

Necessary for: All Companies

Company Blog

A blog is perfect for frequent updates as it is much easier to use. The internet is being saturated by the rapid number of companies going online and creating an online presence. To give you the lift to make you rise above the competition, you need to develop a captivating personality around your brand. You need to create a following through common beliefs and values.

Choose to share valuable information and provide sneak previews to your personality. Offer solutions to your prospect’s problems to gain their trust and gratitude. Your chances of attracting new prospects grow as your blog becomes more popular and readers begin to get to know you. People want to know people and find out more about them before they raise their hands and tell you that they are interested.

Benefits:

Can increase conversion rates on your offer if they like your personality (through the blog) and return to find out more information
Especially useful to build a relationship with clients and prospects
Easy to set up and free!
Helps your articles be found in search engines (as google spiders) love them and helps improve the rankings of your blog / website (if it is linked together)
Can be used as a prospects capturing site too, if you provide a free report or gift on your blog in return for their contact details

Cons:

More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous

Lead Generation: Good – 9/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable for all industries even though some companies still view blog as a causal marketing tool. If even popular, top and lead companies are using blogs, they why not jump on the wagon and avoid eating your competitors’ dust?

E-newsletters

A commonly overlooked tool that could help you generate much more leads than you expect. After you capture a person’s contact, make frequent communication and aim to build a relationship with them. Provide useful content and keep asking them to make a tiny step forward. If they enjoy your content and like the personality (through the e-newsletters), they are more likely to respond favorably.

In addition, the constant offers you make, will make you the first one they’ll think of, when they do have a need for your product!

Lead Generation: Good – 8/10 – as people forward e-newsletter to their friends

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable for all industries

Facebook

Facebook has been the strongest competitor to google as their number of subscribers have grown exponentially within 2 years. And what’s more, they are in the process of developing an application that will provide people with the ability to search for anything inside facebook. They are looking at becoming the largest portal ever.

Many companies are fearful of facebook as it is a conversation. You give out contact and other information to your customers or prospects and they leave comments. There is no way to moderate bad feedback or prevent negative remarks.And it is something that you have to maintain and build up constantly.

If you intend to take advantage of the benefits offered by facebook, you need to first define your objectives. Would you want to get feedback, send invites for your events or share product info? Secondly, create a method to attain your goals. Thirdly, determine who the key influencers are and include them in your list and make a positive connection with them. Fourthly, create a contingency plan if bad feedback occurs and how you will react to them.

It is not surprising that all types of companies are building a presence on facebook, they include dentists, aesthetic doctors, notebook companies, psychologists, golf companies and many many more.

Benefits:

If you lead your tribe (your fans) to cultivate a trusting relationship, you can double or triple your sales
A great way to generate new prospects by finding them or being positioned correctly in facebook
Easy to set up and free!
You can be found in search engines based on the name of your fan page (which companies create)
Trigger multiplier effect if done correctly

Cons:

More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous
Can back-fire if not done properly

Lead Generation: Good – 7/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable for industries whose target market is utilizing the portal. The average age of facebook users is 35 years old and above. The framework of your facebook fan page is vital to your success and must not be created just to introduce the company or the products. It must must contain substantial and helpful information that the targeted customer can really use.

Twitter

Obama popularized twitter and it has been buzzing ever since. Twitter can be employed to supplement your blog or facebook account for disseminating essential information to your followers. Twitter is a great way to find people interested in your niche because once you register an account, you can search for people with similar interests. Tap into this growing community to build a relationship with your target market. And use twitter to get them reading your blog or facebook profile.

Benefits:

Fast and easy way to generate followers by identifying them inside the twitter database
Great way to break the ice by providing feedback and comments to “tweets”
Free to set up
Helps people find you online if they search by your name or twitter account
Trigger multiplier effect if done correct

Cons:

More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous
Can show low results if done without an objective

Lead Generation: Good – 5/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable for companies with a blog or facebook account and want to “train” their prospects to keep returning to these pages.

Social Media Websites like Squidoo, Hub Pages, Digg and Delicious

Social media websites are similar to twitter as you utilize them to be found by loyal followers in each community. Distribute your articles to each one of these social media channels to get your “word” to as many interested people as possible.

Benefits:

Be found in the search engines
Free to create an account
Improve ranking of your website if done correctly
Increase brand awareness if your articles appear everywhere in search engines

Cons:

More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous
Takes time to generate results

Lead Generation: Good – 4/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Forums

Identify where your target market are and build a conversation with them through providing value tips and insights to their questions. Simply by providing great content and position yourself as an expert, they are likely to click on your profile and find out more information about you.

I know a guy who launched his eproduct by simply participating extensively in forums and built a database of 800 ready prospects in a few weeks. Thus, if you find your target market eager for more information about you, then you should grab this perfect opportunity to promote yourself and lead them to browse through your database.

Benefits:

Easy to identify target market in forums
Free & simple to execute
If done correctly, can increase awareness of your company’s services and products very quickly
Increase brand awareness if your articles appear everywhere in search engines

Cons:

More time consuming compared to the rest as it is continuous

Lead Generation: Good – 6/10

Costs: High – 0/10

Suitable only for industries where there is a lot of talk in the forums, mainly consumer markets.

There are many different channels and techniques to generate leads through the internet. After a complete analysis, and based on the dictates of your market, choose a minimum of four channels to try and experiment on. Because you do not want to be overly dependent on any channels, just in case it dries up.

One unique thing about the internet is it can help predict future demands because of the extensive data it collects. People’s search activities can be tracked and recorded, and with these powerful statistics at your disposal, you will be able to analyze the effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns. When you have conditioned yourself to improve your campaigns at every opportunity, in time, you will attract an impressive number of prospects at minimum costs.

If you are keen to learn about the potential of your market in the internet, click here to read about the free customized report.

Pamelina Siow is an expert on generating leads through the internet. To be updated about her latest tips, catch up at Pamelina Siow blog.